The Regulars: Family of four farms in urban spaces

Jamie Chan and her husband Blas Herrera have an urban farm in their backyard where they grow their own food, raise chickens and harvest honey from their beehives.

Video: Kat Duncan

Jamie Chan walks slowly from terrace to terrace to water the many plants to the sounds of soft clucking from her chickens and buzzing from the bee hives at her home in San Francisco.

Her backyard garden, which she also refers to as her homestead, is teeming with life. Vibrant wildflowers, potatoes, a small apple tree, leeks, climbing vines and much more are tucked into every available growing space. Their cats Yolo and Moxie, lounge in the sun while their baby corgi, Lilikoi, runs among the plants playing with her daughter Kira.

“For me, it’s just about growing food in every possible space. You’re going to see a lot of food among the flowers,” she said.

Her daughters Kira Mei Herrera, 6, and Cassidy Anne Herrera, 3, enjoy being amateur naturalists in their parents’ urban farm. They spend their backyard time looking for ladybugs to capture, digging their toes into the dirt, collecting eggs and inspecting bees hopping from flower to flower in their airborne dance of pollination.

The homestead is a family project where each member does their part. Blas Herrera, husband to Chan and father of their two young girls, puts on his beekeeper suit one foggy morning to smoke and subdue the bees before extracting them for an upcoming garden tour. The Chan-Herrera family opens their backyard oasis to the community regularly, and on this particular day, students from S.F. State were due for a visit.

The Regulars: Family of four farms in urban spaces

1of9Jamie Chan, 37, works in her greenhouse which is a part of her extensive backyard garden at her home in San Francisco May 4th, 2017. Chan and her family raise chickens, bees, and grow their own food in their homestead.Photo: Kathleen Duncan, The Chronicle

2of9Blas Herrera, 38, speaks with his daughter Kira Mei Herrera, 6, about the bees he just extracted at their home in San Francisco May 4th, 2017. They were preparing for students from San Francisco State University who were coming for a garden tour and to learn about homesteading.Photo: Kathleen Duncan, The Chronicle

3of9Kira Mei Herrera, 6, collects eggs from the chicken coop at home May th, 2017 in San Francisco. Her parents Jamie Chan, 37, and Blas Herrera, 38, grow their own food, raise chickens and have bee hives at their San Francisco home.Photo: Kathleen Duncan, The Chronicle

4of9Bees in an observation box May 4th, 2017 in San Francisco.Photo: Kathleen Duncan, The Chronicle

5of9Kira Mei Herrera, 6, takes a break from helping her mom Jamie Chan, 37, as they prepare for students from San Francisco State University who were coming to tour the garden and learn about homesteading May 4th, 2017 in San Francisco. Chan and her family raises chickens, bees, and grow their own food in their backyard garden.Photo: Kathleen Duncan, The Chronicle

6of9Kira Mei Herrera, 6, holds their rabbit at her home May 5th, 2017 in San Francisco.Photo: Kathleen Duncan, The Chronicle

7of9Blas Herrera, 38, inspects the bees before placing them inside the observation box for viewing at his home May 4th, 2017 in San Francisco. He and his family were preparing for students from San Francisco State University who were coming for a garden tour to learn about homesteading.Photo: Kathleen Duncan, The Chronicle

8of9Fresh eggs, garden tools and cut flowers on a table as Jamie Chan, 37, prepares for students at their home May 4th, 2017 in San Francisco. Chan and her family grow their own food, have bees and chickens at their home as part of their homestead. They were preparing for students from San Francisco State University who were coming by to learn about homesteading and gardening.Photo: Kathleen Duncan, The Chronicle

9of9Jamie Chan, 37, speaks to student Roshawn Ortega, 24, of San Francisco State University, about chickens at her home in San Francisco May 4th, 2017. Chan and her family grow their own food, raise chickens and have bee hives for the honey they produce. They use their backyard space as a homestead, which they invite students and the community to tour and learn within.Photo: Kathleen Duncan, The Chronicle

Later that morning, students streamed eagerly into the homestead to learn about growing their own food, raising chickens, harvesting honey and even got their hands a bit dirty. They potted small plants to take home with them, hugged chickens, and asked questions about homesteading within city spaces.

“The bigger benefits of urban gardening of any kind, in a container or in the ground, is that it can build community and send a message to people about what we value,” Chan said. “We can become ecological stewards in this new generation of concrete and landfills.”

The students also wandered through an opening in the side fence, which led into the neighbor’s backyard, where Chan and her family have extended their urban farm.

“I would love to continue to convince my immediate neighbors as well as the neighborhood that if you just tear down your fence, you can work together to grow things that will be a good benefit to the community and the environment,” she said.

Chan would love to have goats someday as a part of this community farm, which she hopes to extend beyond these two backyard spaces.

“I think gardening makes me feel like I’m making progress in my community, it’s a way for me to express myself. By sharing it with people online, in person and in our workshops, I feel like we’re spreading the message that there is postive things you can do, right here,” Chan said.

Watch an accompanying video at www.sfchronicle.com/theregulars/. The Regulars is a weekly photo and video column that offers a glimpse into the lives of ordinary people in the Bay Area, caught in routine activities of modern urban life. If you know a regular, email kduncan@sfchronicle.com.

Kat Duncan is a picture editor, photographer and videographer at the San Francisco Chronicle where she has been working since June 2015. Before joining The Chronicle, she was a Visuals Editor, staff photographer and book reviewer for newspapers in Utah, Texas, Kansas, Massachusetts and New York. Originally from Los Angeles, she is a graduate of University of California Irvine and Boston University.